Thursday, April 27, 2006

Draw board updated

Hi all,

Added a "Artists Board" so artists can work in peace knowing their art is safe. The way it works is:

- Random people have only view access- Need to be checked into draw.

Currently only a few people know the password to be checked in. Please contact me at pockyrevolution [at] yahoo.com if you would like it. I'm still figuring out a limit to the number of artists sharing one board... I may be creating boards for indivuduals or pairs.

**Also, if you missed last times update, live streaming JPOP via Kawaii-Radio was added!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Tuesday

Hi all,

Glad to see the cool people are sticking to the draw board (type http://ani-pock.net , which will automatically redirect you to the refuge point)

As for Gunbuster 2, I'm aware that Videoh requires you download a client. I wish I could upload the file somewhere else that didn't require a sign up, but nothing comes free. I haven't heard of anything bad of Videoh though. I think you can trust their software.

I uploaded all 100MB of that episode on videoh for you all...registration is pretty fast.

Beyond that, I currently don't have enough time to scope out new hosing services to put up the other anime. They will just have to wait. (Sorry Pita Ten and Rizelmine fans)

Pockers - I will be emailing you soon about the next gen Ani-Pock.All others - no time frame on the launch of that version. I really want to spend a good deal of time designing it, so that it can have a webspan life of approximately 5 years. There are lots of features to add, things to fix (make more efficient) and so on, so please be patient.

Since it could take a very long time between now and the next version, all you need to remember is the address: ani-pock.net . I'll always have this domain, and I can easily change it to redirect to different locations.

Currently it redirects to a copy of the drawing board hosted on my school account. At least you can still chat and draw together!

Important Ani-Pock site news

BOOKMARK OR WRITE THE ADDRESS TO THIS PAGE NOW:

http://ani-pock.blogspot.com

THE SITE (ANI-POCK.NET) MAY NOT BE ACCESSIBLE TOMORROW!LATEST NEWS WILL BE POSTED HERE.

FAQ -

1. Is the site shutting down?

A: I certainly hope not. Anime has been temporarily removed as the website hosting provider for Ani-Pock has new limits on transfer/bandwidth. If the monthly limit is exceeded, all Ani-Pock.net related services (except for this blog and the forums) will be shut down. Anime downloads are the largest source of transfer/bandwidth currently.

Only the anime section will be disabled until a solution for hosting the anime files is found.

2. What will I see if the bandwidth is exceeded?

A: You will not be able to reach any pages related to Ani-Pock, except for the forums and this blog. Ani-Pock would not be accessible again until the next mid-month day or start of the next month. That is why I recommend you write down the address for this blog, as latest news in the event of an outage will be posted here (The blog is on a different server than Ani-Pock).

3. So is the end?

A: I hope not. But I have a lot of time ahead of me and eventually will need to move on to bigger and better things. That means, a whole new, bigger, better, funn-er Ani-Pock could relaunch some day.

But remember! I have no intention of closing the site now! I am only writing this message in response to changes made by Ani-Pock.net's hosting provider.

All Ani-Pock.net services will continue to function except for Anime.

I will make another post tonight or tomorrow concerning where people can watch the rest of the anime series if Ani-Pock will be unable to show them.

May 5 is Children's Day, when families celebrate the healthy growth and happiness of children. It became a national holiday in 1948, but it has been a day of celebration in Japan since ancient times....On Children's Day, families with boys fly huge carp-shaped streamers (koinobori) outside the house and display dolls of famous warriors and other heroes inside. The carp was chosen because it symbolizes strength and success; according to a Chinese legend, a carp swam upstream to become a dragon....At the National Kasumigaoka Stadium in Tokyo, tens of thousands of children and their parents participate in a "Kids' Olympics." It has the look and feel of the real thing, since the National Kasumigaoka Stadium was the main arena for the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. It even features a torch relay, and there are races for parents and kids in different age groups.

Ayaka Sahara of Japan performs her floor routine during the first day of the Pacific Alliance Gymnastics Championships in Honolulu. (AP)

An ornately decorated float is pulled through the streets of the old quarter of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, at the beginning of the spring Takayama Matsuri (festival) on Friday. (Mainichi)

Yokohama’s traditional Red Brick Warehouses are decorated with around 2,000 streamers strewn from the balconies. The ceremony on April 12, 2006, was held to mark the 95th anniversary of its foundation at the end of the Meiji Period. (Mainichi)

The container ship Eastern Challenger, which foundered after colliding with the freighter Tsugara Maru and taking on water. The collision occurred Thursday in the waters around Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture. Photo courtesy of the Japan Coast Guard.

Now for some photos from JapanWindow.comJapanWindow is a weekly Photoblog by a fellow named Andy Gray! I've chosen some of his shots to display below:

Andy's comment:

I was in Okutama this past weekend near Sawai Station. What a beautiful place! The Tama River is amazing. The water is snow melt, so it's clean and crystal clear. People were fishing for trout (and catching them, but it'll be better in June they say). Others were kayaking. Most people just got off the train and sipped tea in garden cafes that only open up on weekends.

While a short piece, the animation quality is very solid, and furthermore, the sychronization to music is perfect!

Authors comment:

Anyhow, Shoo Fly is a work of "Mickey Mousing" (Google the term, my friends) to the One Piece OST track "Ichijya Tetai" ("One Hour Evacuation"). It follows a woman I call Nelly as she deals with an unwelcome fly. And that's about it. There's not much of a story to summarize.

Shoo Fly has the most intense frame by frame animation I've ever made, and as a result, I'm very tired of drawing Nelly. Tired of drawing, period. This experience has reinforced my decision to not pursue animation as a profession (maybe character design is more to my liking...). My mouse's left-click button is now a different color from the right-click button.

And before I leave you, check out this very happy dog! (Yes, its is a real dog! NOT a doll!)

WE Post That is NOT 2 Senteces Long! (by CP!)

The little kitty on the corner of the nanaca crash page is clickable, that one in a full collection so look out for more because they are going to start rampaging ani-pock soon enough :3. Each of these little clickables will lead to a surprising end!

Time for some good old-fashion cosplay! Grab your Naruto headband or kunai. These people speciallize in cosplays. And they'd like to share with you the amazing productions of http://www.jac-productions.com. These are very fun videos you might enjoy to watch, over, and over again. (one in particular has a slight PG rating).

This is a japanese robot. A tea serving one at that!Freaky looking eh?Yeah, well it is!

This is a robot that helps the elderly.Note: this one's not freaky-looking ^^

So there you have it, cosplay team and two helpful robots! So now I'll say it.

-He is virtually indestructible, highly resistant to all modern weaponry.

-He can release a powerful atomic energy beam, usually blue but in some films red, from his mouth (which is ominously signalled when his dorsal fins glow/flash in the same color as the atomic beam). (Wikipedia)

Saturday, April 08, 2006

SA (mini update) - FT Robot

Note: If you are looking for the Nanaca Crash XBox announcement, click here.

Mini Post today! It's a robot! Its small! Its Cute! What is it? (I mean she?)

Takahashi-san, of Kyoto’s Robot Garage, is already famous worldwide as the creator of a series of high performance, and beautifully styled male robots including Chroino and Manoi. So what could he do to top that? Simple. How about a female robot that not only looks great, but also walks and moves just like a woman?

Takahashi’s latest creation has been dubbed “FT”, standing for female type, and no connection with the Financial Times out of the U.K.

...

What we do know is that the robot stands 35 centimeters tall, weighs about 800 grams, and has 23 degrees of freedom. The robots design incorporates the use of two separate gyrosensors. The robots basic structure is composed of advanced carbon fiber and plastic. On board power is supplied by a lithium polymer battery. (Robot-Dreams)

To counter the instability resulting from FT's slim-line figure, Robo Garage installed two sensors inside the robot that detect if it's starting to lean.

When activated, the sensors stop FT moving so that it can regain its balance.Robo Garage got FT walking smoothly by extending its knees, and programmed it to walk and turn like a fashion model.

FR Update - This Past week of Japan in Photos

A first-year elementary schoolgirl waves as she crosses a street holding hands with Tokyo metropolitan police commissioner Tetsuro Ito on Thursday, the first day of a nationwide spring traffic safety campaign. Ito greeted 71 new first-year students at the entrance ceremony of an elementary school in Tokyo's Taito-ku the same day, joining with others to teach the children traffic safety rules. The police safety campaign will run until April 15. (Mainichi)

Japanese mountaineer Ken Noguchi, left, looks on at a demonstration of HAL, or the "Hybrid Assistive Limb" during a news conference by Japanese quadriplegic Seiji Uchida and his support organization With Dreams members in Tokyo Monday, March 20, 2006. Uchida, 43, who was left paralyzed from the neck down after a traffic accident announced his plan to ascend the peak of a Swiss mountain by riding piggyback on Noguchi, who will get some extra muscle from the HAL robot suit, developed by Tsukuba University engineering professor Yoshiyuki Sankai. The HAL demonstrators are unidentified. (AP)

A woman battles with gusty winds as she walks by a bridge connecting skyscrapers at Tokyo's newly developed Shiodome business district on Monday, April 3, 2006. The Meteorological Agency issued a gale warning as annual strong spring winds hit Tokyo. (AP)

Miniature schnauzers wearing sun glasses are seen at the Tokyo Pet Show 2006 in Chiba, east of Tokyo. About 20,000 people are expected to visit the country's largest pet convention which will be held until Sunday. (Reuters)

A test digital broadcast (TV) is shown on a mobile phone during a demonstration at Japan's top mobile company NTT DoCoMo headquarters in Tokyo Monday, March 13, 2006. Digital TV broadcasts called "one seg," short for "one segment" for portable devices specially equipped with receivers are set to start in major urban areas in Japan Saturday, April 1. (AP)

Ultraman Mebius, foreground center, the latest hero of Japan's popular Ultra Hero TV series, poses with his family members during a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday, March 28, 2006 to promote the 16th series set to start broadcasting on April 8. The latest series mark the 40th annivesary of the birth of Ultraman, standing in tuxedo foreground right. (AP)

Japanese boy Yusuke Kobayashi, 6, leans to PaPeRo, a robot developed by Japan's electronics maker NEC Corp., to understand what the robot speaks to him during an exhibition at a Tokyo department store on Sunday March 26, 2006. (AP)

Update (10:30 am):This is how it looks when I make a blog entry! I have my iBook dedicated to iChat (AIM) and the main computer (a Dual PowerMac G5) runs everything. This photo was taken for the Pretz entry a while back! :D